Monday, December 30, 2013

I wasn't going for the patriotic look on this card. I wanted sort of a country feel with the stars usin Raspberry Ripple and Midnight Muse ink. But I think it screams Red, White and Blue! Though that doesn't mean I don't like it! I think to get the country feel I'd have to use some Crumb Cake along with the Raspberry Ripple and Midnight Muse.

To make the layered Artisan Label, I cut a label from Gumball Green and cut the label in half with my scissors. Then I attached the two pieces to the Whisper White stamped label, leaving a little of the top and bottom overhang. There is no green showing on the sides but it still looks OK!!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

This is the card I made for the nursing home project tomorrow. I wanted to do something for the new year that was sparkly and rich but easy. I used the Encore Silver and Gold metallic pads and added some retired gold cord. It's pretty! I'm anxious to try the stars on another card with lots of color for a birthday card.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

It's not a Christmas card, but it is a Christmas greeting to you! I'm sending good thoughts your way this Christmas and wishing you all a wonderful holiday. I hope you get to spend it with your family, friends, and loved ones. I'm looking forward to two family filled days of celebration!!

Friday, December 20, 2013

We made these beautiful hangers at the nursing home today. I thought the ladies could hang them on their doorknobs or knobs on their dressers, etc. They aren't just a Christmas decoration, but a winter decoration.
They were a big hit! (The stampers who attended my Christmas camp also made these and attached them to a white gift bag.)

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Sorry for the long delay between posts. This time of year is just hectic! I'm finished with making and posting Christmas cards. This card is one I made for my card club last Saturday. It would make a nice masculine card, but could easily work for female to. I love cards with this color scheme.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

I'm still getting new Christmas stamps! I ordered this one, Magical Season, just last week. It is one of the single stamps that Stampin' Up! has this Christmas season. I love the sentiment, so this is the card I made today. It will be my 3rd Christmas card for the ladies (and Bill) at the nursing home on Friday.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Do you have the Top Note Bigz Die? If you do, you can make this cute and simple gift card/treat holder. I'm making a bunch and giving them as little gifts with the Ghiradelli chocolate squares in them for all the friends I've made that work at the nursing home I go to on Friday. After they enjoy their chocolate treat, they have a gift card holder they can give away this Christmas season!

I cut 2 Top Notes out. I embossed one with the Stylish Stripes folder. I folded down the top of the embossed piece. Using the Tombo Multi Adhesive, I glued the edges of the embossed piece and attached it to the back Top Note. I actually snipped off the points on the side of the holder after it was glued so the ribbon would fit better around it. I tied the chevron ribbon around the holder and added the little tag with dimensionals. Now it's ready to fill!!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

I haven't been in my stamp room for a week! First it was Thanksgiving, then Black Friday shopping. Steve had his 45th reunion on Sat. (how did he get that old?) and I went to see Mama Mia with Lori and the girls on Sunday. Spent the last 3 days decorating for Christmas and finally got to my stamp room after dinner tonight. I think I'm tired!

The card I made today is a CASE from Lynn Donnelly. I used the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set and Framelits from last year (you can still order them even though they aren't in any current catalog!) with the Post Card stamp. The Snowflakes are from Snowflake Soiree (which is also still available). It has lots of distressing to make it look old. The ornaments are stamped in Silver Encore ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I tried silver embossing powder but it was too heavy. The snowflakes are stamped with Smoky Slate and stamped off to make them lighter. The post card is stamped in Crumb Cake with lots of sponging in Crumb Cake too.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

I have been seeing Christmas cards made with Lovely as a Tree for years, but this is the first for me. It makes a lovely scene. It's so peaceful looking. I stamped the tree on the left full strength. Then I stamped the tree on the right full strength. Without reinking the stamp, I stamped to the left and right of the tree on the right and got the lighter trees, which makes them look like they are in the background. What a great effect!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

I know a lot of you have purchased the Joyful Christmas stamp set so here's another card. This time I embossed with Whisper White ink and white embossing powder. To make the leaves, I just cut a few ends off of the poinsettia that I cut the center out of for the smaller flower, and used my Aqua Painter and some Wild Wasabi ink from the lid of my ink pad to watercolor on the underside of the embossed petals. It's much prettier than it shows in this picture. I've embossed with gold on Cherry Cobbler, silver on vellum, and white on vellum. Not sure with one I like the best, but it would be one of the vellums - probably the silver. What do you think?

Friday, November 22, 2013

Stampin' Up! is having a sale, just in time for the Christmas holiday! Many of you remember that Stampin' Up! has had an Online Extravaganza the last few years. That's what this is - they just changed the name.
If you want to see what's reduced, just click on the "Shop Now" button to the right and it will take you to the online store. Click on the Promotions bar. Then click "shop now" and then click on "Holiday Sale". When you click on each "% off" category, it will show you what's on sale. Any questions, just let me know.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

I used my Truly Grateful set again today. What a great set! This card is a case from Dawn Olchefske. It is going to be my 4th and final Thanksgiving card for my crafting residents at the nursing home on Friday. Next week we'll be on to Christmas!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Today's card was fun to make, so I made a video to go with it. The quality of the video isn't great because I did it after the sun went down and I have lots of shadows, but it was my third try so I just went with it. I think you can follow it OK.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Lovely as a Tree was in the catalog when I first started stamping about 13 years ago. I always admired the cards made with the set but never bought it. After a time, I never wanted to purchase it because I thought surely it was about to be retired. But it never was on the retired list. So.... I broke down and bought it. I hope I didn't jinx it and it continues to be in the catalog. This is the first card I made with the set.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Man, where has this week gone?!? I've been preparing for my card club this Sat. and trying to get some last minute things done in the yard before it really gets cold. The leaves have been really beautiful in our woods so I have been making quite a few "leaf cards". This one is for the nursing home tomorrow. It won't take them long to put it together, but they will have a real beauty when they leave. It's what they call a CAS card - clean and simple. I would call it CASBB - clean and simple but beautiful!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I was inspired by a card made by Tamara Bertram. I expanded a little on her card and came up with a card I am really pleased with. Makes you want to start singing "fa la la la la"! I made an envelope liner to go with this card too. I used the Music Notes wheel on plain copy paper and cut the liner out with the Envelope Liners Framelits Die. It's a very economical way to make your own designer paper. It's just on an envelope that's going to be thrown away anyway. Hopefully, they don't throw away the card!!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Today I made two cards with the Joyful Christmas stamp set, stamping the poinsettia in Encore Silver ink and heat embossing it with Silver embossing powder. I made two, one in the landscape position, the other portrait, because of the greetings I wanted to use. The Joyful Christmas Wishes is a much prettier greeting, but I didn't have enough room to use it with the Pretty Print Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Talk about a great set to make quick and easy Christmas cards. Have you seen the new photopolymer stamp set called Endless Wishes?

Darn it! I wanted to get a good picture or download the flyer so you could see this, but I can't figure out how to do that!! I'm so bad at this stuff! Anyway, the set sells for $13.95, and you can see it if you go to my "shop now" button and find it online there. So sorry!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Here's a cute little snowman card. He's stamped in silver! He goes so nicely with the Winter Frost DSP that comes in the Paper Stack. I used an old SU die, Snowflake #2, to make a glittery snowflake stick out from behind the stamped image.

Friday, October 25, 2013

I made this Tent Card using the Deco Label Framelits with the Circle Collections Framelits. I wanted a fall card and I used French Foliage, which is retired, but you could use any "leaves" set you have. And it's beautiful with flowers as well.

The base cardstock is cut 5" x 5 1/4" - scored at 2 1/2" (on 5" side) and folded for the "tent fold card".
The circle is glued to the Deco Label but the Deco Label is attached with 3 dimensionals at the bottom only.

Here's another card with the ribbon at the top, which is the first card I made. I thought it might look better with the ribbon at the bottom. What do you think?

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Today's card is a direct case from Linda Heller!! I loved it so much I didn't change a thing. After the recipe for the card I will give you some of the dimensions and directions for making this Joy Fold.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

I made this cute little treat holder using the new Stampin' Up! Envelope Punch Board and a piece of Witches' Brew DSP. It is actually an envelope to hold a gift card but it holds a snack size candy bar perfectly!!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

I used the flowers from the Too Kind stamp set to make this birthday card. They are summery colors but I just love pink and green so I thought I had one more "summer" card in me before I start on the fall leaves and color cards. Pistachio Pudding and Strawberry Slush rock!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

I was never too happy with the Autumn Greetings card I posted so I did a little tweaking. I just love the acorn from Truly Grateful but the background stamp I used on the first post (Sept. 30) didn't do it justice. Here's my second card and I am much happier. Classier and less busy, in my humble opinion :)

Sunday, September 29, 2013

I'm home from my Alaskan cruise and short stay in the great state of Washington. We had a great time but the weather didn't cooperate. When we landed back in Dayton on Saturday, it reminded me of landing in Ft. Lauderdale in Feb. if you know what I mean!! But it's back to reality - cooking, laundry, cleaning - but thanks goodness there's stamping!! I got the idea for the card I made today from some notecards created by Peggy Noe.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Here's my Friday card for the nursing home. It can be tough to come up with the right combination. The card can't be too simple for them, but it can't be too complicated either. Their fingers don't work too well and too many steps really throws them. But you have to have more than a couple of pieces to glue together, you know what I mean? I think they'll be pleased with this one.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

There are a lot of these Chalk Talk Framelits candy holders on the web and I'm not sure to whom the credit goes for being the creator of this cute idea, but I copied mine from Becky Roberts. You can take the idea and make these for any holiday or any occasion.

Here are just a few of the dimensions and directions you need to make these. You can pretty much figure them out from the picture.

- Cut DSP to 2 1/2" x 5 1/2". Score at 3 1/2".
- Cut Pumpkin Pie (or any color) cardstock to 2 3/8" x 3 5/8".
- Fold DSP on the score line and place just inside the bottom cutting line of the Chalk Talk Framelit (so you keep the fold and don't cut it off.)
- Adhere the top and bottom of the DSP to the cardstock. The middle will be open to slide ribbon between. Add your tag to this ribbon
- Trim the corners of the Pumpkin Pie cardstock to match the corners of the DSP after it's been cut with the framelit. I used a corner punch for the top corners and a corner rounder for the bottom corners.
- Pull the Chevron ribbon through the 1/4" hole but don't tie it. Tie it closed with some Baker's Twine or crochet thread.

Just play with them a little bit, you'll see what needs to be done to complete them. They're easy!!

Monday, September 9, 2013

This was a card from my Saturday stamp club. It's all Soft Sky and Whisper White. It's so soft and pretty. I CASED it from Nikki Spencer, though I changed the colors. The flowers from Flower Shop and the leaf from Fabulous Florets are watercolored with the ink from the lid of our stamp pads.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Today's card is a 3 x 6 card made with the Expressions Thinlits Dies and the Big Shot. It's not really a Thanksgiving card, as I plan to make a Thanksgiving card with this layout at a later time. This can be used at any time when you want to let someone know that you are thankful or grateful. It is a CASE from Daniela Sucker, a demonstrator from Berlin, Germany.

I did a lot of sponging with Crumb Cake on the Whisper White cardstock after stamping the lines with the Gorgeous Grunge lines stamp.

When using this Thinlits die, I had a little trouble getting the words to pop out of the die, so a used a piece of waxed paper along with the Early Espresso cardstock and it popped right out!! Then you just peel the waxed paper away. It is definitely a time saver (not to mention getting rid of the aggravation of a word torn in two!)

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

I made another card with the Clockworks stamp set and this one is a CASE from Carolyn King, a fellow demonstrator from Australia. She has made some gorgeous cards with this stamp set. I can't wait to try a few more.

Monday, September 2, 2013

I was playing with the Clockworks stamp set today. It's a great masculine set but can be used for lots of feminine and generic cards. I added Off the Grid stamp set for this card. I did a lot of sponging and stamping off to get the look I wanted. It's a little shabby and rustic.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

I finally got around to stamping again after a few days off. And I am a tired girl! I spent 3 days straight helping Lori stain her deck and fence. Let me tell you, she has a big yard and a big deck! Steve is still doing a few things for her, but my part is done.

I promised a Christmas card for the workshop I'm holding Friday night, so I created a card using Joyful Christmas .Actually, the design is a CASE from Janet Hill, though I changed the colors drastically. I'd like to try it with the Winter Frost colors too. It's stamped with the Encore Silver pad that is in the Holiday catalog again after being absent from our main catalog for a while. Then I heat embossed it with Silver embossing powder, cut it out, and popped it up with dimensionals. It's really a lovely card.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Here's another card using the Halloween Hello stamp set and this IS a CASE from Deb Currier. She has some really cute Halloween cards on her blog. I jazzed up the inside with some candy corn and the greeting from last year's Wicked Cool. I used some old DSP to make some envelope liners. And I've got a cute little Halloween card ready to go!!